Apple Denies Receiving Data From Facebook

Facebook’s privacy practices were called into question once again recently when a report claimed that the company had provided sensitive user data to at least 60 device makers, including the likes of Apple and Samsung. Apple CEO Tim Cook has commented on the matter, claiming in an interview with NPR that Apple has never received any data from Facebook and neither has it ever requested the social network for such data. He said that the idea to do something like this “is so foreign” to Apple.

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The New York Times reported last week that Facebook had signed partnerships with device manufacturers like Apple and Samsung so that they could “recreate a Facebook-like experience” when it came to features such as messaging and “like” buttons without requiring an app.

The report mentioned that the data provided also enabled device manufacturers to obtain other information on users such as the events they were planning to attend and their religious and/or political leanings.

Cook told NPR that Apple’s partnership with Facebook just let users share on the social network directly from their device’s operating system. “What we did was we integrated the ability to share in the operating system, make it simple to share a photo and that sort of thing,” he said, adding that “We weren’t in the data business. We’ve never been in the data business.”

It merits mentioning here that Facebook has denied the report as well, saying that “Contrary to claims by the New York Times, friends’ information, like photos, was only accessible on devices when people made a decision to share their information with those friends.”